After spending 3 years in a government cage for refusing to have his money stolen by the government, actor Wesley Snipes is now somewhat free. Unfortunately, he is still under constant supervision and the government continues to treat him like a criminal, simply because he refused to be criminalized.

“Actor Wesley Snipes has been released from a federal prison where he was serving a three-year sentence after being convicted on tax charges in February 2010.The release to a supervised residential location in New York occurred Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons told CNN.

Snipes, 50, who starred in the “Blade” action movies and “White Men Can’t Jump,” had been serving time at a federal prison in Pennsylvania. A jury convicted him of willfully failing to file tax returns for 1999, 2000 and 2001. Snipes was acquitted of felony tax fraud and conspiracy charges. In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of his sentence, which he had argued was too harsh for a misdemeanor conviction.”

Some people would point out that Wesley Snipes had plenty of money, and that he could have easily handed over his extortion fee and still be able to eat. However, if a wealthy man was walking down the street and was attacked by a mugger, would people still carry that same perception? Would everyone condemn this person for attempting to stand up against his mugger? Because Wesley Snipes, and every other person who is forced to fill out a tax form, is by principle a victim of theft.

Thanks to a lifetime of propaganda, people will argue relentlessly that taxation is not an act of violence, they will deny that it perpetuates a complicated form of slavery, and many times get deeply offended when you point out the fact that it is theft.

Yet, peaceful people are taken against their will and thrown in cages every day for not paying taxes. If this action was not carried by the state, everyone would recognize it as a violent kidnapping. Whats worse is the fact that if any of these people made any attempts to defend themselves on their own property as they would against any other intruder, they would have been killed and treated as if they were the aggressor.

I don’t think I can live another day without knowing there’s some progress being made on Blade IV.

msantos1116

Where you going, Meat?

Chugs Rodiguez

really tax is being equated to theft now.

So I imagine when you’re in a hospital built by the state that your guts are churning with the thought of theft that was used to pay for the building, doctors and nurses?

The guy is fucking rich of making shithouse films and deserves to pay his taxes as much as the next man.

If he didn’t want to pay his taxes to the Industrial Military Complex nothing is compelling him to stay a citizen of the United States. He could have fucked off to some low taxing country who would have gladly accepted him.

but shitting on government for theft/taxs? Reminds me of Life of Brian.

Reg: They bled us white, the bastards. They’ve taken
everything we had. And not just from us! From our fathers,
and from
our father’s fathers.
Loretta: And from our father’s father’s fathers.
Reg: Yeah.
Loretta: And from our father’s father’s father’s fathers.
Reg: Yeah, all right Stan, don’t delay with the point. And
what have they ever given us in return?
Revolutionary I: The aqueduct?
Reg: What?
Revolutionary I: The aqueduct.
Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah, they did give us that, ah, that’s true,
yeah.
Revolutionary II: And the sanitation.
Loretta: Oh, yeah, the sanitation, Reg. Remember what the
city used to be like.
Reg: Yeah, all right, I’ll grant you the aqueduct and
sanitation, the two things the Romans (should read the government) have done.
Matthias: And the roads.
Reg: Oh, yeah, obviously the roads. I mean the roads go
without saying, don’t they? But apart from the sanitation,
the
aqueduct, and the roads…
Revolutionary III: Irrigation.
Revolutionary I: Medicine.
Revolutionary IV: Education.
Reg: Yeah, yeah, all right, fair enough.
Revolutionary V: And the wine.
All revolutionaries except Reg: Oh, yeah! Right!
Rogers: Yeah! Yeah, that’s something we’d really miss Reg,
if the Romans left. Huh.
Revolutionary VI: Public bathes.
Loretta: And it’s safe to walk in the streets at night now,
Reg.
Rogers: Yeah, they certainly know how to keep order. Let’s
face it; they’re the only ones who could in a place like
this.
All revolutionaries except Reg: Hahaha…all right…
Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine,
education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the
fresh-water
system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for
us?
Revolutionary I: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace! Shut up!

misinformation

‘really tax is being equated to theft now.’

How is taking one’s property without their permission not theft?

Saglung

Others thoughts: Governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed (Declaration of Independence). Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes (US Constitution). You can only dissent from this by illegally seceding, illegally revolting, or legally changing the constitution. Otherwise, by merely living here, you consent to being taxed and to otherwise abide by the law (Locke’s “Two Treatises”).

My thoughts: If you stayed in your parents house until you were 40, they would make you pay rent and would enforce things like “my house, my rules.” There’s no written contract. You never gave explicit consent. You’ve lived there your whole life. Never even had a vote of who is in charge. But it’s not theft. They’re not stealing from you. Also, all analogies limp.

That said, locking people away for not pay taxes or debts is counterintuitive, especially 3 yrs in the fed pen. Tax revolts, like all revolts, have a time and place, and, most importantly, a purpose. “All the time, everywhere, because I feel like it” may be an OK, if immature, personal belief, but it’s profoundly stupid in any wider context.

Jesus’ thoughts: Whose image and inscription is this? Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

Bluebird_of_Fastidiousness

I’m not sure the governed are mentally and emotionally capable of giving consent. Certainly not informed consent.

The Owners slipped the populous a roofie in their education system decades ago. It’s been at the Skull and Bones Frat-house basement ever since. Let’s just say, our democracy needs serious reconstructive surgery.

“Others thoughts:” Governments are fallacious. How can a group of people have rights that individuals lack? Consent of the governed? How is 51% consenting for the other 49% logically or morally consistent? Congress has the power to do what Congress says – and they have the monopoly force of violence to prove this. Regardless of what Locke dreamt up, living ‘here’, is not consent to anything. I suppose a rape victim consents to being violated because they were merely walking on that street at the wrong time?

“My thoughts:”It’s not theft because the 40 year old is choosing to stay home, of their own volition. Their parents payed for the house, electricity, etc. There is no force fraud or coercion in this scenario. It’s a voluntary relationship.

“Jesus’ thoughts:” How convenient for Caesar that someone else said that Jesus said this.

3 up votes 1 down vote on my first post. At least one person (for now) doesn’t like morally or logically consistent ideas.

Guest

“Governments are fallacious.”
Aha, so that’s the real issue. Your premise is that the state should not exist. If it should not, then abolishing taxes is a given. No taxes means no government. So, yes, you do have a logically consistent idea there.

Chugs Rodiguez

its not theft if you agree to it.

No one put a gun to Snipe’s head and told him to live in the US.

Nor did Snipes try to run for congress/senate/president to change the laws to you know like have zero tax (what a ridiculous thought)

For example I take drugs. I know the cops could kick my door down and charge me. I continue to take drugs and will defend myself in court but ultimately if i’ve found guilty (fair, reasonable and with justice) I’ll accept the sentence.

See I could move to another country where the drugs I take are legal. No one is telling to stay here.

Nor am I actively trying to change drug laws (I should though). So to be frank I really can’t complain that the law is wrong if I don’t do shit about it.

misinformation

‘its not theft if you agree to it.’

Clearly, Snipes didn’t agree to it.

Pay taxes or go to prison isn’t really a choice. There is no choice when people calling themselves the government are waiving the proverbial gun in your face.

‘Nor did Snipes try to run for congress/senate/president to change the laws to you know like have zero tax (what a ridiculous thought)’

If one understands the system in the U.S., they’d know that no one person can do such a thing. ‘Change the system from the inside’ is a nice slogan perpetuated by the system itself and is itself, in my opinion, a ridiculous thought.

‘For example I take drugs. I know the cops could kick my door down and charge me. I continue to take drugs and will defend myself in court but ultimately if i’ve found guilty (fair, reasonable and with justice) I’ll accept the sentence.’

This smacks of serious cognitive dissonance. How could an adult, making a decision to take something into their body, that harms nobody else, be punished in a ‘fair, reasonable and just’ way? If you accept the sentence it’s because your logical self-defense has been destroyed by the very system you are apologizing for.

‘See I could move to another country where the drugs I take are legal. No one is telling to stay here.’

Why should you have to leave the place of your birth in order to participate in voluntary, non-violent acts? Because sociopathic strangers want to control you through force, fraud and coercion?

‘So to be frank I really can’t complain that the law is wrong if I don’t do shit about it.’

Too be frank, the ‘law’ is just words scribbled on paper by strangers with a penchant for control. Why do you think lawyers make up their own language? You can “complain the law is ‘wrong'” because it is morally and logically inconsistent. It doesn’t matter if you ‘do shit about it’.

mannyfurious

That is a choice. Just because you don’t like the options doesn’t mean it’s not a choice. He also has the choice not to live in this country. He made the choice to live here and he made the choice not to pay taxes. I thought libertarians were all about “personal accountability” and other such buzzwords.

misinformation

First. I haven’t received an answer from my first question. If one does not agree to being taxed, how is it not theft?

Have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome? I’m assuming you learned your understanding of choice in government schooling. If you really believe that prison or even death vs. paying taxes is a choice, then I’m going to assume our back-and-forth will be futile…but I suppose I’ll continue anyway.

Snipes didn’t make the choice to live ‘here’. As far as I know, he was born ‘here’. Why should he be beholden to the ‘laws’ of a bunch of strangers because of where he was born?

With regarding to what ‘libertarians are all about’, I wouldn’t assume to know what you think. What is a libertarian?

Eric_D_Read

I think you’ve got something here.

There should be an “Opt Out” clause in the modern governmental system. If someone is that concerned with their precious money being stolen, they can publicly renounce The System and no longer pay taxes.

Of course, that would also mean they are no longer entitled to use any service that tax money funds in any way. No pubic roads, electrical grids, hospitals, etc.

And, most importantly, no protection of their precious property by police.

mannyfurious

When you use a public service, you agree to be taxed. So that covers a wide range of possibilities. When someone picks up your trash, or when you run water from any faucet in your house, or if you use the U.S. Post Office in any way shape or form, when you drive on a public road, when you step foot on public lands, when the court tosses a criminal committing crimes in your neighborhood in prison, when fire departments stop fires from raging throughout an entire neighborhood, when the National Guard takes supplies to neighborhoods affected by natural disasters, when you flush your toilet, when you walk on a sidewalk, hell, even when you fly on a plane or ride a bus, all of those things come from taxes. And most sane people are in favor of those things.

The problem is that with people like you, everything’s black or white, right or wrong. That’s a stupid and unhelpful way of going through the world. Certainly our taxes are used for terrible things, as well. But instead of running around like a fucking twat, pretending to be some sort of revolutionary, maybe we should work on fixing things instead of getting rid of them altogether. This type of thinking is why the Unions have been gutted. Unions provided a lot of good, and a lot of questionable things. But instead of trying to fix them and make them better, we got rid of them altogether. And then people bitch when CEO pay rages out of control and the average worker can hardly pay rent. The reason is because there was a process in play to prevent that from happening, it was imperfect, so we got rid of it altogether.

Do the world a favor. Light your home on fire, and when the firemen come to put it out, do everything in your power to prevent them, since they’re paid for by taxes. Stop walking or driving on public roads/lands. Stand outside of court houses and boycott the sentencing of convicted murderers, rapists and child molesters, since, you know, from the people who arrested them to the people sentencing are all paid by taxes. Do everything in your power to prevent aid from being delivered to the next town ravished by a tornado. Go find a foster home, and drag all the kids out and burn the place to the ground, because those are also paid for by taxes. Start letting your trash build up in your back yard. Stop drinking tap water. Stop flushing your toilet. Basically, do things that will make you not be a goddamned hypocrite.

moremisinformation

“When you use a public service, you agree to be taxed.”

Simply declaring something over and over again does not make it so. Just because the ‘choice’ is that I can have property stolen or my freedom or life taken, does not mean I agree to be taxed. Please don’t continue this mantra.

Not surprising, I still haven’t gotten a response from you as to how it isn’t theft when someone has their money taken from them without consent?

I’ll now amend that to, “I’m going to assume our back-and-forth will be futile.”

It’s impossible for me to get past the, “hey, as long as the fire department puts out my house fire, the whole, ‘one million dead Iraqis’ thing is just part of the program”, control meme.

it’s unfortunate that I could name police brutality, marijuana imprisonment, millions of innocent people dead from the U.S. et al, armed forces, etc and all of your ‘examples’ would be null and void but you don’t see that. You’re so conditioned to the stimulus response model of reality, your cognitive dissonance (look it up), is running in the red, whether you realize it or not.

For example:

“Stand outside of court houses and boycott the sentencing of convicted murderers, rapists and child molesters, since, you know, from the peoplewho arrested them to the people sentencing are all paid by taxes.”]

What happens if I stand outside and boycott the murder of a million dead Iraqis? What happens if I stand and boycott over one million non-violent ‘drug’ prisoners? Because, you know, your apologies help perpetuate that system.

“Do everything in your power to prevent aid from being delivered to the next town ravished by a tornado.”

Do everything in your power to try and feed the people in these areas without a permit after these disasters happen. You’ll find your heroes won’t allow it. Why is that?

“Go find a foster home, and drag all the kids out and burn the place to the ground, because those are also paid for by taxes.”

Go find the most recent child taken from her pot smoking parents and put into not one but two abusive foster homes before being beaten to death and tell her it’s because her parents smoked cannabis. Because her death was, you know, paid for by your fucking apologies.

“Start letting your trash build up in your back yard.”

I take my trash to the transfer station all by myself”

“Stop drinking tap water. Stop flushing your toilet.”

I have a well.

“Basically, do things that will make you not be a goddamned hypocrite.”

Basically, it’s hard to be empathetic with socially controlled, small minded-ness. Do you see how easy and lame it is to spout hyperbole and non-sense. For the sake of your future discussions, look into the fallacy of the neglected aspect.

It’s ‘soul-destroying’, to quote some Irish folks I know, that you’ve been so conditioned to fit into your box that your imagination has been shut off from reality. I suggest you look into self-actualization. The world is really much bigger than your religion allows you to believe. There are people out there taking responsibility for themselves and lighting a brighter path than your morally and logically inept controllers will have you believe.

And thanks for sharing your point-of-view. It’s always useful to see how far we have to go.

ewop07

Snipes isn’t some foreigner who came here by sneaking in this country; he was born here with the right to be here which has nothing to do with him exercising his right to protest.

mannyfurious

This is what it boils down to. People are hell-bent on avoiding personal responsibility. It’s much easier to blame “teh guvmint” than to admit you have a role to play in your situation. Like someone brought up already, there is no such thing as “private property” without a government around to declare as much.

That’s not to say the government is an infallible agency. It most certainly is corrupt and profoundly fallacious. However, it is only that way because we allow it to be so. Some speeding laws, for example, are stupid. But if I get caught breaking those laws, I better be prepared to pay the piper. And it’s not anybody’s fault by my own. I knew the law and I chose to break it. If the law is stupid, I need to go about trying to change it.

http://pneumerology.com/ pneumerology

How can you “own property” without a government?
The government gives, and the government takes away.

Taxes are just another way of pooling resources. The more significant issue is not that governments collect taxes — the issue is “who is the government serving?”

Andrew

Money isn’t real property.

misinformation

If property is the exclusive right to control a scarce resource, then I believe it is. Of course, the Fed isn’t exactly creating a paradigm where money is scarce since they just keep the proverbial printing press running.

What is your definition of ‘real property’?

Andrew

Money isn’t a resource, it’s a agreement. It’s a token of exchange–a brilliant invention in that sense–but nothing more.

By real property I mean things with objective value, like houses and clothing and healthy food and clean water–things that money was invented to help facilitate.

mannyfurious

When you choose to live in this country, when you choose to drive on public roads, when you choose to take your kids to a public park, when you choose to go camping on public lands, when you choose to use the post office, then you are choosing to give permission to be taxed.

I understand that a lot of people are also against fire departments, a standing military, social service, public schooling, et.al. (and I, myself, am not necessarily in favor of many of these types of “services”), but it’s nice to know that if my house catches fire, there’s someone there to put it out. If someone breaks into my house, there’s someone there to try to hold the assailants accountable. It’s nice to know if get into a car accident on my to work and can’t work for several months, that there are ways to ensure my family still has something to eat.

The point is, taxes aren’t inherently evil. The discussion should be around what we’re using them for and if they’re really being used for the “good” of a given population. I don’t feel sorry for a rich person like Wesley Snipes being jailed because he’s too selfish to contribute to a society and a system that is responsible for his wealth in the first place.

misinformation

I don’t ‘chose to live in this country’. I was born here. Explain to me why appearing out of my mother’s womb in a particular place means I’m beholden to the ‘laws’ of strangers – whether dead or alive?

Why is it that you can only imagine the ‘public spaces’ you bring up, being viable because the people calling themselves the gov’t ‘run them’. By the way, the ‘public roads’ in the U.S. see 40,000 deaths/year – not exactly high quality ‘service’. Also, I don’t use the post office. And what a surprise – even with their attempted monopoly, there solid business model is failing.

With regard to your second paragraph, your essentially telling yourself a story why it’s okay to be morally inconsistent. “It’s nice to know”? Really? This is the basis for which you aim to run a society? Why do fire depts have to be government run? Standing army and public schools? You’re making my argument for me. Your whole second paragraph boils down to how you keep your personal lifestyle.

By your logic, you support the murder and destruction wrought in the middle east, north Africa and everywhere else the U.S. runs rampant. That’s disturbing.

I never said anything about taxes being ‘evil’. If theft is immoral, which it is, and taking someone’s labor from them without their consent is theft, then taxes are theft and that is immoral. Otherwise, you won’t mind if I come over to your house waving a gun in your face, telling you that I need $50K for my friend’s surgery. Don’t worry, it’s going to a good cause.

We Americans love to complain about taxes, because there is nothing we can really do about the government we propped up in exchange for false promises like “Freedom” and “Liberty.”

BuzzCoastin

if they print the fiat money at will
what are taxes for?
control, snooping, take fiat money out of circulation
it never had anything to do with freedom or liberty
obviously

http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

A withering fig leaf of monetary legitimacy.

misinformation

I don’t really feel like “we” do anything voluntarily, let alone propping up people calling themselves the government. It’s not voluntary if one party is waving a gun in the other’s face…even if the one with the gun is telling them they have a choice.

DeepCough

My point exactly.

BuzzCoastin

26 USC § 7203 Any person REQUIRED under this title to pay any estimated tax or tax, or required by this title or by regulations made under authority thereof to make a return…

26 USC § 6050I – Returns relating to cash received in trade or business, etc.
(a) Cash receipts of more than $10,000 Any person—
(1) who is engaged in a trade or business, and
(2) who, in the course of such trade or business, receives more than $10,000 in cash in 1 transaction (or 2 or more related transactions), shall make the return described in subsection (b) with respect to such transaction (or related transactions) at such time as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe.

Yes, we should all applaud the fabulously rich for refusing to pay their share. What a hero.

Will Coles

I wish more Americans would realise just how much their IRS demands of them, of wealth they may earn overseas. Unfortunately for Wesley Snipes they made him a scapegoat, same with Lauren Hill, they will make examples of anyone that stands up to them which is why so few do.

Interesting! He should have just put together some kind of 501(c)(3) organization and never even be asked to pay taxes. Scientology is way more sinister and crazy than these dudes, but they’re still tax exempt. And they were granted that exemption AFTER they were convicted of a massive espionage campaign against the IRS!

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

i must disagree. the nuwaubians make the subgenius look sane. i can honestly say that scientology is nothing in comparison as far as bizarre beliefs go. nuwaubianism is the crème de la crème of fucked up ufo cults. they just don’t have as many lawyers as the scienos

http://slrman.wordpress.com/ James Smith

This is another indication of the vindictive nature and lust for vengeance of the American government. Free country? Not hardly.

It isn’t as if any rational person still believes the USA is a free country. Think about it. No-warrant wire taps, indefinite detention of citizens without charges, approval of rendition of prisoners and torture, stop and frisk without probable cause, search and seizure without a warrant, no-knock entry, confiscation and destruction of cameras that might have been used to film police acting illegally, police brutality, police shootings that go without investigation, managed news, and the civil-rights destroying “Patriot” Act.

Acts of police behaving illegally, with shootings, Tasers, and unwarranted violence now appear almost daily. Rarely are these offenses punished. Most often “an investigation” is claimed, but soon forgotten.

In addition, the USA, with 5% of the world population, has 25% of all of the prisoners in the world. That means the USA has the most people in prison of any nation in history. Even by percentage of residents incarcerated, not just sheer numbers. USA is # 1! Does any of that sound like a free country?

As Dwight D. Eisenhower said about communism, “It’s like slicing sausage. First they out off a small slice. That isn’t worth fighting over. Then they take another small slice that isn’t worth fighting over. Then another and another. Finally, all you have left is the string and that isn’t worth fighting over, either.